As I speak with leaders of organizations, consistently I hear the same issue over and over again – it’s hard to find great people to fill the open roles inside my company. At the start of the year, WaspBarcode has published their 2017 Top Challenges facing Small Businesses Report , which echoed this sentiment. Hiring new employees was a top five challenge for business groups surveyed up to 500 employees.

The truth is, the competition for great people isn’t anything new. For many executives and business owners it seems like we are facing competition on more fronts than ever. Shouldn’t finding people be the easy part? As a small or mid-size business, you might feel like you can’t compete for the best people without having to break the bank on salary or benefits – there’s just no way to have a level playing field. Here’s the good news, great people really care more about YOU! That’s right, great people are more motivated by work culture and access to leadership than money and perks. Sure, you have to pay fair, but that is way down on the list.

I recall an article I ready last year in Fast Company magazine featuring the CEO and Founder, Julia Hartz, from Eventbright. She shared, “If could give one piece of advice to all entrepreneurs, it would be to really invest in the people.” A year later that has stuck with me and still resonates. As someone who spent years leading the People (HR) function, and now working with business owner and entrepreneurs on their strategies from the ground up, the conversation still starts with people.

It is really quite simple. Do you want to find great people for your business? Here are 5 things you can start doing right now:

Go through the current application process – whatever you find difficult, frustrating, or impersonal needs to be changed. After all, is that the experience you really want people to have with your company.

How easy are you to reach? If someone really wants to work for you, shouldn’t they be able to easily send you an email? Time to stop hiding and start having conversations, encourage your HR team to do the same.

Interview each candidate who will be joining your company personally. Let them know what you expect from them, and what they should expect from you. Unless you have thousands of employees, you have the time. Really, what is more important that getting the right people in the business anyway?

Start having conversations with people who might be great for the future, even if you don’t have a role for them now. Building a pipeline of talent is just as important as building your sales pipeline, maybe more important.

Continue to share your vision and passion – more than likely it’s why the candidate took the position in the first place.

Let us know if you start using any of these tactics and how they change your success rate finding and keeping great people. Have other ideas to share? We’d love to hear them.

PowerVision, is a strategy consulting firmthat helps business and their leads to scale and grow. Ready to put your vision into action? ContactPowerVision today.